A Hustler's Guide To Buying And Selling Anything (Part 2)

[HighestVantage]

Thats awesome.
How did you found the deal with the sailboat and what to look for?

Would be nice if you can tell us how you get your knowledge about boats. Are there many of these deals, what do you think?

I guess if you can do it with 1 boat you could do it with many right?

Haha, Lots and Lots of looking, and having 10k ready to spend in cash. I'm still not sure if I would call it a hustle, being that I was looking for a boat to live on, but I've always had an eye for value and I knew this boat was being sold cheap for what it is.

I got my knowledge of boats over about 3-5 months of really intense obsessive study, like anyone not born to boats would have to. It's surprising how many people are born into a floating world, though most of them (ill include myself in this) look at boats more often as tools and not investments.

I think there are many of these deals, BUT I am not saying to go out and grab em up. Moorage is expensive and the sailboat/motorboat market is so sluggish you might be sitting with it for a long time. But if you're interested in living on it... and working on it, then go for it. It's quite the experience.

On another note I've had some funny interactions with people while trying to sell the boat. One Polish guy offered me a christmas tree farm with a rented house for the boat as down payment. That would have been interesting. He used to own a million dollar seaside hotel, (the bank really owned it, he just held the debt) and lost it in the real estate crash.
Some colorful characters I did meet...
http://blog.oregonlive.com/steveduin/2007/10/lap_dances_at_the_anchor.html

 

[FionaS]

You're rocking it GrumpyCat.

I've decided that one of my 'resolutions' for the year is to make enough on the side buying/selling to pay off one of our student loans ($10k).

This is a good project on the side to practice my selling skills and loosen up some of our monthly cash flow, which is an issue currently with all the student loans we have. I'm home all day, after all, may as well do something with my time while the kids are too busy for me to get 'real work' done.

So, about $2.5k/quarter. Not that much, but it'll definitely make a difference in our lifestyle, so definitely worth it.

 

[GuestUser112]

I ran into some dumb good luck today. Starting the year right!

My Gold Supplier contact on Alibaba just sent me an email asking me if I'd like to get a sample of a new product. I looked at the product and what it was used for, and I thought, wow, this is the most ridiculous product I have ever seen. How lame are people that would use this?

I felt so strongly about it that I showed my brother. I said "Look at this ridiculous product she's trying to dump on me".

He said: "Oh yeah dude, everybody is buying those! A bunch of people I know from my high school got them for Christmas, and our neighbor just bought one! Everybody on my facebook is making statuses about them!"

...Lol.

I checked the price they are selling for, and the margins are tasty.

I put in an order for 30 pcs. People want what they want I guess.

 

[DeletedUser394]

Seriously, almost 50 bucks is great. Work that out to whatever hourly wage you could have gotten, and I bet that's at least 2 hours of work you didn't have to do.

 

[TheNextTrump]

Say one sold for $110, one for $130, a few in $150-170, a few in $190-200, 1 or 2 in the $200-$250 range, 1 $300.

All about the condition, and what (exactly) you are buying

For example, a random used video game can range from $15-$60. Depending on condition, and what it comes with.

If it's just a copy of the game, with some wear an tear, you'd bring $15-$25

Used copy, but in good condition/mint, could bring $25-$40

Used copy, with manual and case could bring $60. ETC.

When pricing items with ebay (sold listings) ALL of the small details matter.



Go through and read over each listing to see what is adding the value, and then you will know what to offer when you see the product in person.

 

[Grinning-Jack]

I've been selling different stuff since the end of 20th century. I learn 1 thing; there aren't exist things which are impossible to sell. On the other hand, it's not easy to sell something that cost over 1000 dollars. I prefer selling cheap items from 5 to 300 bucks.
I'm sometimes good surprised when customers buy real useless items. For example this metal sign board was bought by an American buyer today.lol

 

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[mnov5534]

Man its quiet in here, where are all the hustlers?!!

Well I bought some books at a lost property auction, as it turned out I went a little crazy and bought 10 boxes full!! As I realised I won all 10 auctions, I had an "oh shit, what have I done" moment... Still I figured there's no way I can't make money!

I was quite shocked when I turned up to pick them up and some of the boxes were much bigger than expected. In total it was a whole pallet full of books, and soon it dawned on me that there's no way I'd be able to fit them all in the car on one trip! It was around an hour each way to pick them up, so I wasn't happy!

I brought them home, spent several days sorting through them and separated the textbooks first. I spent just a fraction under $500 including petrol, and I had over $4000 worth of uni textbooks alone.

Today I had the best day so far, made $150. Sold 1 textbook and 15 large novels.

A day after I listed the textbooks on Gumtree I sold the first high school maths book. So far I've sold $300 worth of books in 5 separate sales! I'm hoping to make back my money before the credit card statement is due next month, then its all pure profit from there!

 

[smartman]

Hustling will burn you the hell out unless you have an exit strategy. I still don't. LOL@me

 

[GuestUser140]

Is ist a good method to put the offer Online even before you own the obeject ? So you wait until someone buys it online, and then you buy the Item and sell it ?

Do this for testing demand only. Tell interested people that it has already sold.

Never sell something you don't have. Stress, worry, it's not worth it. You'll go out there and do it anyway, but you'll come back and realize I'm right.

I read the complete thread, but coulnd't really get it. I Live in Germany, we do have craigslist but it's really empty, not much offers.

Is it still possible to do this method ?

You're an entrepreneur. You solve problems, help people and will become financially free if you do it right.

With this in mind, I'm sure you can think of a website in Germany where people buy and sell their used goods.

I read the complete thread,

Read it again... but more importantly: take action! Buy something and sell it! Sell something you don't need. Take good pictures, learn to write good descriptions. Put yourself in the buyers' position and assess if you'd buy seeing your own ad.

Great success!

 

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[smartman]

well, it is crunch time for flippers. Who's doing what? don't get lazy on me now.

I had a catastrophic failure over thanksgiving with the Patti Labelle potato pie craze. I found a walmart down the road that had them in stock. I made a listing on ebay for them, then drove out to go buy them that afternoon. I assumed that walmart's website would be accurate considering, you know, they are a 100 billion dollar company. That was my first mistake. I got to the walmart and they were sold out. I hit the phones, cancelled my ebay auction after only one sale, and hit the laptop. Came up completely empty. I had hoped to find someone on ebay selling the pies for less than I charged, so I could make some money off of it, but I have a responsibility to my ebay customers to provide great service, so I bit the bullet and lost a few dollars buying the pies and having them drop shipped by a reputable and friendly seller. Couple of good lessons there. I'm probably too stupid to learn the most glaring ones though. Ha.

I found some great intel on a few holiday sales at pharmacies of all places(rite aid, etc) on star wars toys. Havent made much, but after dec 18th, when the movie drops and star wars mania is in full effect. Gripped a few of those mario amiibo things that I don't understand, but my nephew said I can flip. It is unbelievable what those retailers will do to get their shelf space opened up, while good products that sell online get slashed in half.

As I posted in some previous posts, I was getting frustrated with the dead ends on craigslist, so instead of smashing my face off my laptop with no progress I decided to read some blogs about hustling to get a new perspective. Realized that the simplest source is sometimes the best. I returned to hitting goodwills and the sort. Have had a lot of good luck. Toner cartridges, nerf guns and concert shirts. The upside to all of this is that my gf loves going thrift shopping, so I get to spend some time with her while I'm grinding it out. I kind of enjoy getting my family involved in this, just for the simple fact that it gives us something to talk about other than how crazy ____ relative is.

 

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[Bigguns50]

I returned to hitting goodwills

There's a Goodwill 'outlet' store near me. I buy everything for $1.00. My markups are insane. I'm working hard to pay for my Meetup trip.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Anyway, sold a couple of my old textbooks that were gathering dust this morning.

Do you think it would be appropriate to start a new thread? This one is getting long. We can call this one Part 1. The new one Part 2? Let me know.

 

[OVOvince]

Just to be clear, you're looking at the completed listings that have sold.. right?

What most people list at is irrelevant, and a bunch of people make that mistake with their valuation.

It's also location dependent. If you're selling in person, I'd stick with craiglist (local) prices for valuations. If you're going to sell it on ebay, then obviously you need to be comparing to ebay prices (of completed listings only).

Gogogogogogo. $$$$$$$$$

that makes sense. yeah i just sorta rushed it, i should've thought it out well. oh well, time to flip it, for whatever I can get.

I just had a setback, all due to stupidity, forgot to take defensive driving course, my insurance is going to go higher, my parents can't really afford that right now, so I told them to make me pay my own insurance

so now i decided im going to get serious about this even more to help me so i can pay for insurnace, save up for college etc, as well as my upcoming campaigns in January.

i realize this is all irrelevant, but I figure that if I make a commitment in public, it will stick with me better.

anyways, off i go.

 

[DeletedUser394]

True. Only need $1,500/month in the next 13 months to hit the goal though. + 5.5k or whatever the limit is for 2015.

Just so everyone knows, I'm doing this more out of boredom and wanting a challenge than necessity. My current assets pay my entire cost of living. Well, unless the markets go to zero lol.

Edit: I'm saying that to tell anyone doing what I'm doing is that he's right, and you have to scale it up.

 

[Midas Touch]

I made a couple of deals in the past and lost money. I learned some valuable lessons though. Better cheap lessons now than expensive ones later, right?

Anyways, I lowballed a couple of people this morning and forgot to check my email. I checked it now and discovered one accepted my offer but didn't post a number I hope he replies tomorrow morning. If not, I'll look for another deal. Chalk this one up as another lesson...

CHECK YOUR EMAIL PERIODICALLY!

@GravyBoat @GrumpyCat Thank you for your knowledge.

 

[Nicoknowsbest]

Sweet stuff!! @GrumpyCat - part one was already a killer, like @ΕΝΔΕΚΑ said above. I am reading your first hustling thread for the third time now - there is so much info in it, don't want to miss anything. At the same time, I started making some deals and right now, I have 5 items I need to list today here on my desk, with two more deals to be made tomorrow.

Thanks for making a second part! This gives starters the chance to report back here and get some input from you guys As soon as I hit my first targets, I will make a detailed overview here and share my lessons learned.

Thanks to all the contributors so far!!

 

[killa_graham]

Anyone experiences with this - http://www.terapeak.com/?
Just signed up for a free-trial and will report back here...

Yeah, Terapeak is pretty awesome. I used it for a month when I was posting heavily on ebay and it was exactly what I needed. I was on the $30/month plan so I canceled shortly after but it is a great tool..

 

[SBS.95]

No, this is thread is not just a place to post your current hustled items. It's supposed to be a progress thread to hit my challenge. I didn't anticipate so many people dropping in to post what they're doing.

Does that mean I can't talk about the car I picked up for $450 last week?

 

[Eos]

I couldn't sleep last night (only managed from 6am-8:30am lol) so I spent the night contacting every cleaner offering his/her services. I then matched them to job postings.

I've mentioned this in other threads, but this is an opportunity as nobody actually reads any of the ads. The people that post resumes don't bother to look at the jobs. I guess they think the employers will. And the employers that post jobs don't look at the resumes.

So I've been actively matching them and offering them the connection if they agree to pay me a 'royalty' or finders fee. If they say no, I offer it to the next person until someone says yes.

What's to keep them from going back on their word? Nothing. But a lot of this hustling stuff is based on trust.. or at least some faith in human decency anyway.

It's still early, but I can say that I can realistically expect about $660/month from these connections. (That's the $160/month from the first contract, plus 3 more that I've since added on). They don't all equal $160/month obviously.

I think this is going to be my angle. I'm hesitant to restart buying and selling, because at the end of the day it was exciting.. but also a major pain in the a$$.

I'm pretty grumpy and irritated so hopefully tonight will be smoother haha.

So you're basically starting a recruitment agency?
I could probably help you out with some ideas here, feel free to PM

If you can get them to work on a contract basis you can make a predictable recurring revenue from their services.
And when a cleaning job comes to an end you move them elsewhere and make money off them from the next employer...

You're selling people hustler!!!

Recruitment is a huuuuge industry, very time and human resource intensive but there is a lot of money to be made....

 

[DeletedUser394]

I would never put the majority of my cash into one item, the risk is too high.

 

[OVOvince]

guhhhhh

still slackin on my craigslist hustle. i hate this 2 day wait to update the ads.

im missing out on some crazy deals just to wait for my first sale before i dive into some more buying.

any strategies to combat the wait? i remember someone mentioning posting multiple ads in a certain way....


besides that, my job is helping me get closer to the $10k goal.

 

[RisingStars]

Hello,

I started 1 month ago and want to share my deals. Maybe someone got some hints for me.
http://www.file-upload.net/download-10037459/Flipping.JPG.html

 

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[DeletedUser394]

Does my file work now?

Yeah, impressive record keeping.

 

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[RisingStars]

Honor of the table goes to Ryan Befort. He made it and I rewrote it with my deals and stuff.
I was really impressed too, so I made the table took me whole evening yesterday, was my first time ever making something with excel.

1. I am not really keeped track sadly but it is around 40€ atm. But I am not 100% sure because I only buy on facebook, so if I guess you know how it is
want to spend 10 min on Facebook and up sitting there 1h.
Also It cost really much time to make good ebay ads and stuff.
2. I am still in school and really busy (Thank good holidays atm) I also go to gym alot, cook etc. So I dont have so much time to meet up with people the whole day. Also I am living 45min away from the next big city (500k) Mine: 12k
So I just buy higher margin items and sell them on ebay cause I am free with the pickup time and when I go to post office (Every day still but at exact times)

Also I feel like that on Facebook people think they get phones for basically free xD
I watch the comment section and some even offer less then me. They are not resellers tho.


It would be possible to sell on classifieds maybe. I will try it, thanks for the tip. BUT: my second goal is to import stuff and become a big ebay seller, so I want to get as much knowledge about ebay as possible and get good feedback.

I am an ebay reseller officially even got this legal stuff from a lawyer, shop, etc. so I get more on ebay then the most others would for their old phones.

 

[Moises]

Just want to say thank you to the creator of this thread. I've bought some snes and n64 mario/zelda games for 5-10$ on a Facebook group. i can easily sell them for 20-40$ on eBay.

I'm also selling leggings for women which seem to sell fast. Me and my girlfriend bought some leggings in Los Angeles for 2$ each and sold them for 5$. I did not know the market but my gf did. I also got the product tax free since we know one of the workers. We bought a total of 100 leggings(200$). We sold them within 24 hours.

 

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[SBS.95]

I'm selling some stuff to get some cash to work with.
For now it's a TV, do I invite the buyer to my home or what? Seems risky.

You could show it working in a picture on your ad. For most people, that's enough.

If they want to see it working just have some other people over at your house when they come to check it out.

FYI most of the stories you hear are when people go visit stranger's houses, not when strangers visit their own. The person buying your stuff is often just as wary as you are. They don't know what's going on at your house.

 

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[Dennis Steenoven]

Cool thread so far!
Makes me wonder, anyone hustling big ticket items here? (Lets say 5k+ profit margins per item or more)
Would love to hear some stories of you guys on what type of merch you're selling, if you're zoomed in on a niche or diversified etc.

 

[DeletedUser394]

BOOM. STARTING THE NEW YEAR OFF RIGHT! Closed on an expensive item I had listed for a while + collected my overdue cleaning staff payments as I wasn't in town for the last week and a half.

$9,000 out of $26,000

I just need another 1k to make the 5 figure psychological mark.

I put in a buy order on the full 2k, but I think the markets are closed tomorrow. Oh well.



I think I can bring in another 1k in the next 10 days. Let's goooo

 

[TheNextTrump]

"No worries, if you change your mind let me know, I have cash in hand."

^My exact words. (No worries, if you don't end up having any luck, feel free to get a hold of me. Offers stands, with cash in hand. Thanks for your time.)

The best are the people that get pissed/offended by a lowball offer, then come squirming back days/weeks later. Last week I offered a guy $90 on his item that he was asking $190 on. He told me to go F*ck myself. 2 days later sends me an email apologizing and saying he will happily sell it for $90 if I really do have cash in hand. I met him 45 minutes later.

hahaha! again, I can so relate.

No way bro, I can get ______ on ebay! I've looked at the current listings man, I know what my shit is worth.
90% of the time the sellers have never heard of (completed listings) and base their value off the first auctions that come up. Rookies

Long story short, I've been told 100's of times (Hell no! I'll sell it for twice your offer)
2 days later, 3 days, week, even a month can go by, and BOOM.

Hey man, were you still interested in buying that _____ for the offer you originally gave me.
No sir, but I'll give you this ____. I usually knock $10 or $15 off original offer for the delayed response.
Works everytime

 

[samuraijack]

Just wanted to chime in and say that if you have any old textbooks, now is the time to sell. Winter session is starting and folks have already registered for the Spring 2015 semester. Meaning they probably know what textbooks they need and may be shopping for it.

Amazon is amazing to get rid of your old textbooks fast. Just list a few dollars under the lowest offer and it will "fly off the shelf" if your book is still being used in school. Sold 7 books + Collector's Edition video game all in the span of 2 days.

I paid amazon $60 in fees and lost a few bucks on shipping (their credit wasn't enough for some books because of the weight) and I have to wait for a refund on a couple shipping labels I didn't use. This was my first time practically selling anything online. I pretty much learned about shipping costs, weight, packaging, the time it takes from sale to shipment etc...

Anyone who is hesitating, there's really no reason. Listing on amazon, ebay, or craigslist, is extremely easy. Don't think no one wants your stuff either a couple of my textbooks I thought no one would want, and boom sold in the same day.

BTW, I just got a car, so if anyone is in NYC and starting out but is limited geographically for finding deals, maybe we can work something out, shoot me a message.